yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jfortier777:
I just wanted to corroborate part of what the OP said but from a more reliable source.

REF: AChang@asussupport.us

I called Asus and spoke to the supervisor of their east coast returns department (Allan Chang Employee ID# 37110AC) about the RMA I requested and he said I would be receiving a new device as a replacement with a different SKU than the one I was sending back.

I was worried I would end up with a color that did not match my dock or the wrong size (I ordered the 64GB amethyst gray); so I asked him what the new SKU was, and if it would cause any issue with my proof of purchase or warranty service in the future.

He assured me Asus' system would recognize either SKU and that the serial number would be the only relevant information for my warranty and would be linked to the S/N of my original return and by proxy the original proof of purchase. As others who are placing returns already know Asus is not footing the bill for return shipping but in special cases they will.

I went to the UPS store and printed a label with a receiver billing account and was about to ship the package when my mom got scared, and said, 'You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air.'

I whistled for a cab and when it came near The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror. If anything I could say that this cab was rare, but I thought, 'Nah, forget it. Yo, holmes to Bel-Air!'

This revised SKU number

I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 and I yelled to the cabbie, 'Yo homes smell ya later!' Looked at my kingdom I was finally there, to sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
where is your source? n don't say BB floor manager Michael..lol. if this is true, why hasn't this spread like wildfire all over the tech sites? Asus only let Michael know n no one else? :rolleyes:

if this was true. Asus would've came out and said it the other day when they announced ICS release and that their making a bootloader unlocking tool. like others said, most of the time those managers/employees don't know Jack about merchandise really. only how much it costs n when it might ship. now if he actually means the Tf101 then that's a different story.

Honestly though, I wish they would come out with a new version having a very durable and high quality plastic back panel. if they do come out with a revision in the future, all of us current owners would automatically be able to exchange at stores or send it in for the new one.

like I said. provide an official statement from Asus or a highly regarded tech site. it would make this assumption alot more credible. aside from my humor/sarcasm I do hope you find the source or article.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Wordlywisewiz:
Are you serious what's the sku
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] tylermaciaszek:
Asus is going to stop manufacturing the number one most desired tablet? I don't think so
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
that was funny.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] -lukin-:
Now that you mention it: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity...et-hubert-slams-egomaniac-will-smith-20112712
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Wordlywisewiz:
I think they will come out with one as it's an easy fix...

But different sku does mean they can say we don't have to replace yours for a new one!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
if Asus thought the pressure from people here was bad about unlocking bootloader, imagine the outrage of everyone here with an original version. that would be piss poor customer support. remember we still have the Asus 1yr warranty so we could always send it in and more than likely they'll send the new version. or they could have a program where new version is in stock you could exchange it for new one. regardless of sku number. they better switch my sh#& if they redesign the back. lol

plus I know for a fact the Die hard GPS afficianados in GPS(issues) thread wouldn't let that slide. lol.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] King John:
My source? You mean Kumar from India? I don't know, call them! This is just speculation, Sherlock, we're waiting on hold. I just left a message with the manager and he's supposed to give me a call back. You may not know this, but not everything resides on the internet, especially massive company screw ups that cause thousands of RMA's.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] xzombiex66:
talking to a rep now LIVE, he's got me on hold, he states it has not been discontinued, now im trying to find out what they are going to do to fix it and what happens if i get it back and it still doesn't work, was told earlier they will refund me my money.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Wordlywisewiz:
Then again they might not fix it

Fact the wifi iPad 2 does not have GPS! The 3g does!

They will have a 3g prime though it's in the system file!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
you right it is speculation. he probably thinking of the new asus tablets to come out. they are smaller,cheaper, and less powerful. its like 3 of them. can't remember the names of them. only one spy shot has been seen and no one knows which one it is other than its a small 7in. Asus tablet.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] King John:
So you're telling me that two reps were completely wrong. One of them being a floor manager. And it all making sense. (Discontinuing the broken revision, meaning to stop shipping it making distributors thinking its done.) It's like the Xbox's, they accidentally ship out some broken ones, customers send a bunch back to fix them, and ship out new ones that actually work. I'm not it's true, but it certainly makes sense. Don't be so quick to turn it down immediately.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Wordlywisewiz:
One will have a Tegra 3 and be called the transformer lite! Found in system files
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] xzombiex66:
wow that a waste of time on the phone, only positive thing i got was, its not discontinued.... and that i need to send it in and it WILL get fixed.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] sdelliott31:
I'm frustrated about this whole thing and it has put a damper on my excitement of the Prime arriving tomorrow. HOWEVER, on something as important as this could really be, I wouldn't go with a best buy manager said. I mean really, have you been to best buy? Great store but we know more about the products we are interested in than they do lol. You don't bring a knife to a Gun fight.....lol
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] King John:
You're pretty much spot on about the Best Buy thing. But the Asus rep. saying that they've stopped production of that particular model and are releasing a new one 'some time this month' (yeah right) is obviously a bit more reliable.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] nxp3:
Floor manager eh...I'll make sure to ask him if I need carpet change.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] the_game_master:
but it's the BestBuy.com floor manager, the person who manages and oversees the supervisors who advise the BestBuy.com staff workers handling the products receive/shipping.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] schelfho:
Three things we have found out

Please stop filling up threads with rumors. If there has been one thing that has become apparent to anyone monitoring this process it is that no distributor knows what is going on. Not Amazon, not BB, not BH, no one. The only reliable source is ASUS, and if there has been a second thing that has become apparent its that they dont have much interest in filling us in.

The demand for this tablet at $499 is far greater than the supply. Even with the additional frustration and uncertainty involved in the transaction, supplies are still selling out almost immediately after they become available and who knows how many potential buyers are still on back-order. The third thing that may become apparent to you soon is that ASUS is trying to get out as many tablets as possible, and that they do not care about people who post on forums complaining about a tablet that people are lining up to buy and that could be selling for much more.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] King John:
This isn't a complaint post. Go to one of those and gripe.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Haro912:
Very true. I ordered a dock from my local Best Buy today and the guy was the Floor Manager and he had never seen the sku I gave him to order the dock. All went fine and I will have it Friday though :) He didn't mention anything about the tablet being discontinued to keep my post somewhat on topic ;)
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
Here are some reasons for potentially wanting to differentiate the TF201 vs. something else:

1) They've made some sort of mid-production manufacturing change. It could be visible or not. And what's changed may or may not be significant. The reason for a product identification change could be for replacements, inventory management, or tech support.

2) There might be a new non-"Transformer" Prime or a non-"Prime" Transformer. If they're settling with Hasbro they might want or need to differentiate the new one from the old one.

3) ICS units might be differentiated from HC units for troubleshooting and support. That, or there may be some h/w modifications or optimizations on ICS units that ship from the factory.

If I were to venture a guess I'd say some degree of 1 or possibly 3. Note, I said guess.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] schelfho:
coulda fooled me.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] King John:
The OP only had one complaint, and that was that they couldn't answer that question. This entire thread isn't based around that, is it? It was about a possibility that Asus discontinued the TFP, and about how they may or may not be making a new one. I don't control what people post in this thread, so don't try to pin their complaints on me when the thread was about to supposed to be about complaints.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Evo_Shift:
If they did this after one month and made a major revision i think they would be fools and i an pretty sure **** would hit the fan because of the people who already bought one and cannot return it. I could easily see a model number change without major revision due to ics i guess but not a major hardware change without compensating current owners.

I'm starting to wonder how many posts on this forum are Apple employees or people trying to stir things up.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] King John:
Why, are you excited for the iPad 3?

(This post is JOKES!)
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] e.mote:
There's a pretty good basis for the rumor: Assuming that the Acer A700 comes out with fullHD. The Prime would look pretty anemic next to it.

Whether updating the Prime or coming out with a newer model, I think most vendors will need to have a fullHD model if only due to competitive pressure. I mean, really, how can you let yourself be out-specced by Acer!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
this really made me laugh real hard...thnkx.....n if they do, ill be sending mines in for the switch.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] diecast17:
Maybe the new model will not include GPS at all.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
That's the best guess so far. It's cleaner and cheaper to remove it completely and just provide geo-location over Wi-Fi like the non-3G iPad and the TP. If any of this turns out to be true you seem closest to calling it so far.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Phoneguy589:
I just pre ordered mine from office depot as they are selling within hours of getting them in stock. They are coming out but I think with the gps issues maybe they halted production for a few weeks and are now starting to pump them out...just a thought
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] NastroGlide:
Went to best buy when the og tf was released, asked a sales rep if they had one and he said, "yeah here it is" and showed me the acer iconia...:(
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jdbaker82:
Thread title is horrible..... I hope OPs Mom is done having babies........
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] novaIS350:
I just killed brain cells reading that. Thank you, king john.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] theizzardking:
Yeah but the guys at best buy do know, the got the first supplies and would know if there's a stop in production, they need to know what to tell the customer, trust me i know , i haz buddiz at best buyz , i have a limited edition tablet now........:screwy:
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] xPSYCHOTRONx:
All trolls aside it is totally possible that they made a small hardware change and changing sku to new revision. Fixing or removing gps is a good guess. Also changing the aluminum back to a polymer or somthing could be another decent guess.

I personally wouldnt believe anything from any BB employee regarding stuff like that.

Sent from my EVO 3D w/ Tapatalk
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] goldenu:
And I talked to a Best Buy tech person today who stated "The Transformer Prime hasn't shipped yet." Be careful who you believe.

---------- Post added at 10:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:27 PM ----------

God I hope so: I wanted this thing SO bad, but I just can't buy myself into this much trouble for that kind of money. Transformer Prime 1.1a sounds great to me.

---------- Post added at 10:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 PM ----------
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] slugbug2010:
I have been given the "opportunity" to discuss my buying experience with BB. I Would love to be able to point out that horrible communication that great passe down to the staff that ultimately deals with the customer. I When we know more than they do, and that's just wrong. I

I need to find the sku for the dock and show here what I mean. I all ready have the old email access to the Grey tablet as my debacle reference point. Well see what happens

Fwiw.... I don't consider tweaks to device that is less than a weeks old a "stop in manufacturing". Unless they have scrapped it altogether then they have most likely not quick making them unless it's a temp blatant to load ICS on existing an dw=each devices before theyship out. I still have 5 weeks from today to return mine if they are seeing out new units units but my guess is..... Not happening. If they ARE making new units then they need to issue a recall like thy did on the first 300 (IF I remember that correctly) '
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] adiliyo:
if it's true that gps is required to be present for market/gapps access, they aren't going to remove it, nor have they said anything of the sort, they simply aren't going to market the gps as a feature since it does not (and probably will never without a design change) work well enough to be used as a gps device, but rather as a way of finding your location when provided with assistance from wifi location.

remember, best buy sku's are also internal sku's, they can change them for whatever reason, but it doesn't change anything on asus' end.

but im at least 95% sure the employee is wrong, for asus to go from stating that january is when they will ramp up production to normal levels to discontinuing the device is a pretty drastic change with no formal announcement.

as for them retooling the device to compete with the CES batch of tablets, i'm pretty sure whatever is going to be announced is not something that asus didn't have any idea about, but at the price point that asus wants to sell the prime's at, they aren't going to include expensive 1080p/2000p panels and extra RAM, that's what the TF301 will be for.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Quixion2008:
As a current Best Buy employee(Senior at Purdue University(Seasonal employee)...(the same on helping a good amount of this forum get grey docks ahead of schedule) I believe I can shed some light on this issue. Today while using our inventory management software (RSS) I looked up the grey 32 TF201. In BEST BUYS system the sku has been DISCONTINUED. This generally happens when we are no longer receiving that particular model of a computer or tablet physically in stores in the future. This is, in my opinion, not what is going on. As most have noticed the grey 32 prime has been pulled from BBY.com. Only the CG is even on the site. The grey was taken down and given a "secret sku" that was to be used for those who had pre ordered a CG and were given the opportunity to switch to grey. This sku has gotten out to the forums and has been being used to order grey 32 primes online through BBY.com. I suspect BBY is changing the sku so this can no longer be done, and giving the prime a dedicated sku for in store availability which should be occurring within the next 2-3 weeks.

The prime is here to stay.

-Quix
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] kevinm2k:
Thanks for that! Very useful!

I may take mine back due to screen bleed, but thats about it! everything else i'm happy with.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] evilsock:
dear god i wish id read that last post before i melted my brain reading all 9 pages of this........dernit

roflcopter...AWAY!!!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] chipworkz:
I am new to this forum but this applies to most forums I see. I don't understand why people post threads before they have all the facts. They post a statement as if it was a fact and then a few pages in, they are saying hold on I am on the phone with them now or something like that. Except to try and be the first one to break some news, what is the point in this?

Save everyone some time and get the facts BEFORE you post up something you are not sure about.

That's just my thoughts at least.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] shoutman:
I sent a twitter message to ASUS Uk and they responded stating that they categorically weren't ending the TP201 manufacture for an updated version.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
Ding! Ding! Ding!

Looks like diecast17 is the lucky winner of "guess the reason for a new model number." If you really stop and think about it, what they removed from the website was "GPS Sensor." They never said the Prime had or didn't have GPS. We all assumed it was meant to because of listing of the sensor in the specs. So rather than continuing to spend money for the chip and antenna to support a non-feature it makes sense to take it out. If it's $5 for the chip/antenna combo, and they sell 2MM Prime's as they've said, that's $10MM in additional profit. Congratulations diecast17. ;)
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] JoeyLe:
Fail. They won't because otherwise it doesn't meet with Google's requirements.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
They're already in violation. If you ask Asus, and according to their website, the Prime doesn't have GPS. So why not save the money and remove the h/w? Regardless, we'll know soon enough.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Wordlywisewiz:
Exactly! They won't remove it but maybe replace it with a cheaper non functioning GPS
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] wynand32:
In reality, the Prime DOES have GPS, and it's visible to the system. It also works after a fashion, just not well enough for navigation. So, it currently meets Google's requirements (assuming this really IS a requirement). Actually having no GPS chip installed, however, would be a completely different story.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
I've never seen it; I'm taking everyone's word that it exists. And assuming it does exist, for Wi-Fi only devices, why wouldn't geo-location suffice?

Geo-location determines your location over Wi-Fi without the need for GPS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geolocation
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] JoeyLe:
This guy says it all. There isn't a requirement the GPS should be able to track your location on the feet accurate. However there should be a working GPS in there, and there is. It can determinate you location, so it meets with their requirement.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] shinzz:
I wonder how they will market a Prime with new model # with or without redesigned/fixed GPS. They will receive criticism no matter how they approach it.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] ubervince:
When the Advent Vega (void of GPS) was released over here (UK), there was no Google Market. We only got that after the devs did there work on it.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
I'm sure it's just for stocking, inventory management, and support. Outwardly I can't imagine their would be any differences and I'd imagine they'll be sitting next to each other on shelves (assuming they're on shelves to begin with) for a period of time.

While early adopters may not like what they did or how they did it, Asus deserves credit for moving quickly once they decided to move. Long term, expectations are going to be set correctly and people will know and get exactly what they're buying.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] JoeyLe:
It kinda was confirmed that there isn't going to be another Prime or that they changed something about the process. So..
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] dsmitty166:
Hmm best buy has them in stock online. I call BS

Sent from my Inspire 4G with ICS!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
It's not a recall. It's a mid-run production change. There's no reason not to sell existing stock or have old/new in stock at the same time. A lot of manufacturers do this and most resellers are capable of selling a single product with both original and revised model numbers. For all we know at this point it could be called "TF201B." Since inventory's so scarce, there isn't a lot of chance for overlap anyway.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] JoeyLe:
Dude, source?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
Asus confirmed the Prime had GPS. Right up until they pulled it off their website. "Confirmed" is an awfuly strong word.

---------- Post added at 01:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:51 PM ----------

Dude, I do this for a living. While your mind is "Prime obsessed," what's happening here happens all the time all over the world and it's done the same way. Until it's confirmed, anything I, you, or anyone else says is conjecture anyway. I'm just sharing the way this stuff typically works.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] JoeyLe:
Sorry for the Thanks that was not my meaning.

In other words you are just making stuff up and sort of bring it like it is real. I'm not "Prime obsessed". I don't even have a pre-order.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] wynand32:
It's looking like the GPS issue might be (largely) an issue with the config file. Go check out the GPS thread; it's looking like a simple fix (when rooted) significantly improves GPS performance.

If so, then all of this talk about ending production and coming out with new versions and assassinating the Pope are full of hot air...
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
For that to be true means that the chip and antenna are receiving a strong signal in spite of the metal back and that s/w is preventing apps and the OS from relaying it. I said this before to lock-n-load, config and database files do nothing but provide the chip with satellite locations for its first lock. It's on its own after that. It seems strange (to me) that Asus would publically humiliate themselves if it were as simple as a driver problem. If their own engineering staff couldn't figure out, I'm sure they would have spent whatever it would have cost to bring in outside talent before pulling the plug. And somewhere out there, in this big universe, there have to be some h/w and s/w engineers almost as talented as those on XDA. ;)
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] FishTaco:
That clown is always making stuff up. He makes like he invented the integrated circuit and he is sitting in his mom's basement posting here all day. Must be a real important "job" he has.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jonboyuk:
I completely agree, for the sake of face, I'm sure if it could have been fixed by software they would have. It's a shame, but how good is GPS without 3G backing it up anyway? Google Maps is virtually useless for one (unless you've pre-cached an area). Still I want one anyway.....I use my phone for GPS, I can't imagine why you'd want to lug a tablet around for it?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
ha ha.. nice
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Mithent:
Why are we believing this when Asus UK have outright denied it?